


Armistice

by Yhles_the_Unpronounceable



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: But That Doesn't Mean He Didn't Do War Crimes, Drama, Etherian Politics, Gen, Hordak Needs a Hug, Minor Entraptadak, Post-Canon, crime and punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24928330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yhles_the_Unpronounceable/pseuds/Yhles_the_Unpronounceable
Summary: As the dust settles after Horde Prime's defeat, the thorny question is posed: What should be done about Hordak?There is none for whom that question is thornier than Hordak himself.Or -Hordak refuses to be let off the hook for his crimes, because of very sound, rational self-interest reasons.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Armistice

Hordak picked his way through the vines and flowers (Flowers! The indignity!) that now infested what had once been his sanctum. It no longer was _his,_ that much was clear. Whatever else was unclear about where he stood with the denizens of Etheria now that Prime was gone, it was obvious that the Fright Zone no longer belonged to him.

But there were a handful of projects he had left in his lab that he did not want falling into Etherian hands. Hordak no longer had any intention of using them, but he also knew that if he left them here, eventually some fool would stumble across them and hurt themselves, and it would be all too easy for the blame to fall on him for it.

“Is this one of the dangerously unstable experimental weapons you were talking about?”

Hordak winced and turned to see Entrapta pulling a device from the rubble. “Entrapta, be careful! That has explosives contained within!”

Entrapta flipped the device over and began pulling wires from it. “Ooh, yeah, I see that. Is that a plasma fuse here? Ha! This thing must short out at the drop of a hat! I’m surprised it hasn’t exploded already!”

Hordak felt his pulse pound in his teeth, but no explosions occurred. He finally let out his breath when Entrapta pulled the detonation charge from the device and tossed it aside. “That was going to be an anti-tank landmine,” he said. “I designed it early on in the war, before I realized that the Rebellion had no tanks.”

“Ha, yeah. The only tanks on the planet are the ones you made!” Entrapta rubbed her chin. “Although She-Ra could be considered tank-like in some capacities. Hey, why didn’t you ever try to use this against Adora?”

“It is just a prototype. The fuse made it just as likely to go off on my own soldiers as on the enemy, and it was not worth the effort to refine the weapon just for one target.” Hordak turned back to his task, but his eye caught on a paper envelope tucked under Entrapta’s arm. “What is that?”

“Oh right!” Entrapta handed the envelope to him. It was sealed with the Brightmoon royal crest. “Glimmer asked me to give this to you.”

Hordak raised an eyebrow. “To me? What is it?”

“It’s terms of surrender.”

His eyes narrowed to slits. “What?”

Entrapta shrugged. “Well obviously the war really ended with the defeat of Horde Prime and the destruction of the Heart of Etheria, but _technically,_ you were the original instigator of the Horde War, and that war still hasn’t officially been un-declared yet, so on paper at least, you’re still at war with all of Etheria! At least until you sign that.”

Hordak ripped open the envelope and began reading. With each line, a sourness grew in his stomach. By the end, he wanted to wretch. Instead, he crumpled the terms up and threw them across the room. “Bah! Does she really believe I am such a fool?”

Entrapta stepped closer. “What’s wrong? I was told that it was a good deal. Glimmer said it was, and I quote, ‘more than that bastard deserves.’”

Hordak clenched his fists. “No punitive measures. No reparations. _Immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during the war?_ These are not the terms the victor comes to their defeated enemy with. Why, the only concession it asks of me is that I recognize Force Captain Scorpia as the sovereign princess of the Black Garnet. As though I had a choice in that!”

“Oh, come on,” Entrapta said. “Scorpia’s really nice. She’ll be a great princess!”

“That is entirely beside the point,” Hordak growled. “The point is, these terms are too lenient.”

Entrapta tilted her head. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It means they are a trap.”

Entrapta considered this for a moment, then shook her head. “No no, Glimmer wouldn’t do that. Catra, Shadow Weaver, and the one shape-shifting lizard person my friends told me about, they’re people who set traps. Also I make traps for fun and it’s in my name. But Glimmer doesn’t set traps. The data doesn’t support that hypothesis.”

Hordak pressed his palms against the edge of one of his old consoles. “Whether the queen intends it as such or not, these terms are a trap. And if it is not deliberate, it is all the more dangerous.”

He sighed. Here he was, in the ruins of what he had built, a signature the only thing left before his defeat was truly complete. Perhaps if he had remained loyal to Horde Prime, he would not be here…

No. He could not let himself think that way. Hordak had made the right choice. He’d chosen freedom over servitude, life over oblivion. Entrapta over… he shuddered to consider the alternative. He was Hordak, and he would live on his own terms from here on out.

“Entrapta, I have a… request for you.” The word felt foreign in his mouth. He had only ever given orders, never requests.

“Anything.” Entrapta looked at him eagerly.

“I need you to return to this ‘Glimmer.’ I need you to convince her to negotiate with me face to face. Tell her...” Hordak felt his tongue reject the words before he even said them, but he pushed forward nonetheless. “...tell her I am willing to surrender, but only to acceptable terms. Can you do this for me?”

Entrapta wrapped her arms around him. He had come to understand this gesture was called a ‘hug.’ It was not entirely unpleasant. “Of course,” she said.

*-*-*

Hordak had to appreciate the irony. How many decades had he spent fighting the Rebellion, trying to reach the gold and marble spires of Brightmoon? How many plots had he hatched to bypass the Whispering Woods, to take the castle by surprise, just to stand victorious in these ivy-lined arcades? And yet now in defeat he was welcomed into the glittering halls as a guest.

A guest with very heavily-armed escorts, of course, but a guest nonetheless. Entrapta followed a pace behind, fiddling with another of the ordnance they had recovered from his sanctum. That made him more nervous than any number of soldiers ever could, but it was a fool’s errand trying to get the woman to stop playing with dangerous things.

Even now, some part of Hordak’s mind counted the guards, marked their positions, and idly wondered how far he could get if he took a hostage. He’d never seen anything to make him fear the winged halberds carried by Brightmoon’s rank-and-file, but it was foolish to underestimate the power that the individual princesses wielded – the young queen herself, especially. And of course there was She-Ra to contend with as well. His former cadet turned hero of the Rebellion. It still annoyed him that Shadow Weaver had hid the true nature of the girl from him, and he wondered what other secrets the witch had harbored – secrets she now guarded in her grave.

None of that mattered. Not anymore. It was time for the war to end.

Hordak’s escorts guided him through Brightmoon’s hallways. He caught a glimpse of the open-air royal court with its throne backed by an empty expanse of sky, but that was not where he would meet with Queen Glimmer this day. His negotiations would instead take place in what the rebels had dubbed their ‘War Room.’

He could not help but scoff when he saw what chamber bore such a name. Pastel colors and cushioned chairs. The table had a holo-projector, no doubt scavenged from one of Hordak’s own machines. He could not imagine anyone planning strategies while mired in such placating comforts.

Yet here he was, about to concede victory to the soft creatures who had done so.

“Hordak.” The young queen scowled at him from one of two large chairs at the end of the table. Hordak noted the second large chair was empty. In fact, other than two guards stationed at the door, the whole room was empty.

“Hi Glimmer!” Entrapta waved as she took a seat. Her attention immediately went back to the device in her hands.

“Your highness,” Hordak said, bowing low. “Where is your father? I was led to understand he had turned up alive and had returned to Brightmoon.”

Glimmer’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then she looked away. “My father… did not wish to be part of these proceedings.”

The old king was wiser than Hordak gave him credit for, then. Hordak knew he had caused the man a great deal of pain, and it seemed that he understood the negotiating table was no place to risk one’s temper.

Hordak took one of the lesser chairs opposite Glimmer and folded his hands on the table. “Very well. Shall we begin?”

“What problem could you have with the terms I sent with Entrapta?” Glimmer spat out. “After everything that you’ve done, you get to walk away scot-free! I wrote those terms so that you couldn’t possibly refuse them, so we could put this war in the past where it belongs, but you’re still here! What more could you possibly _want?”_

Hordak kept his face passive. “Your initial terms were… very generous. But therein lies the problem.”

Glimmer sputtered. “Are you… are you saying you _want_ to be punished? Because buddy, I can accommodate that.” She cracked her knuckles, making sparks of magic fly from them.

“Make no mistake, little queen.” Hordak allowed a touch of venom into his voice – the growl that had always been so effective in cowing others into obeying his will. He did not need her to obey him, only to take him seriously. “I am not some weeping martyr, drowned with grief over what I have done. I am willing to accept responsibility for my actions, but I have no intention of wallowing in repentance. And I shall not sign my name to some mockery of a peace treaty when there is no way you are capable of abiding by its terms.”

Glimmer’s eyes widened. Good. He was getting through to her. “What do you mean?”

Hordak drew his finger against a panel on the table, and the hologram projector responded. It was indeed looted from one of his machines. That meant it was a simple matter for him to operate it. With a few taps, the projector displayed a copy of the treaty. He highlighted a line of it in red.

“Immunity from acts of retaliation,” he quoted. “Tell me, Queen Glimmer, how do you propose to enforce this item? What is to stop your subjects from coming to me seeking revenge for how I have wronged them? And when I am forced to defend myself, how will you keep that from spiraling into another war?”

Glimmer dropped her gaze to the table. Her hands balled into fists. “I… I am their queen. They have to abide by the terms I set.”

“And your subjects obey all of your decrees without question?” Hordak allowed himself a wry laugh. “From what I have witnessed, not even your closest friends do that.”

“That’s none of your business!” Glimmer snapped at him.

Hordak returned with a glower of his own. “Oh, but it is. When it is my life and well-being on the line, it very much is my business. It is my business to know how you expect your subjects to abide by this… _very generous_ treaty of yours.”

“I would…” Glimmer looked lost for a moment before renewing her mask of resolve. “There would need to be punishment for anyone who violates the peace treaty.”

“You would truly do this?” Hordak smirked. “You would punish your own people while I, their great enemy, walk free?” One look at the way she shook at the thought told him she was not capable of that. “I did not think so.”

“What are we supposed to do, then?” Glimmer shouted, sudden anger in her voice. “Keep fighting each other until we’re all dead??” Tears welled in her eyes and she sniffed softly. “I am so tired of this war. I just want it to be over.”

Any mirth Hordak had gained from toying with the young queen drained away. He sighed. “As do I, child. As do I. I have spent my entire life fighting on behalf of my brother. Now that I am finally free of him…” He cast a glance at Entrapta. “…I would like to know what peace is like.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Glimmer repeated, more softly.

Hordak steepled his fingers in front of him. “Glimmer, if I may share some… perspective I have gained since I was deposed… I ruled my army with an iron fist. To question my will was to court death, and all under my command knew this. Yet still I was beset at every turn by treason, sedition and deserters. I think I have come to understand far too late that people will not do as you say just because you say it, no matter how powerful, important or threatening you can be. If you want others to do as you command, you must give them a reason to want to do it.”

“Isn’t peace a good enough reason?” Glimmer asked.

“In my experience, no.”

“The data supports that hypothesis,” Entrapta interjected, raising her head from the oily, wiry mess she had made of Hordak’s device. “People are willing to fight over all kinds of stuff. Belief systems, ideologies, money, pets, card games… When you get right down to it, peace is a pretty low priority for most people.”

Glimmer sighed. “So you’re saying if Etherians could get some tangible benefit from maintaining the peace, the treaty might enforce itself.”

Hordak nodded. “Indeed. The question I can’t quite answer for myself is, what could I offer at this point that your people would want more than my blood? I have no territory left to cede, and whatever wealth I may have had to my name is being pilfered from the Fright Zone by scavengers as we speak.”

Hordak and Glimmer both thought in silence for several minutes before Entrapta broke the calm.

“Science!” she exclaimed. A gear fell out of the disassembled device and dropped to the ground with a _‘ding.’_

Her jubilant proclamation snapped Hordak out of his train of thought. He gave her a strained smile. “Entrapta, perhaps this isn’t the time…”

“No, wait, she’s right,” Glimmer said.

“I… beg your pardon?” Hordak blinked in confusion.

“Science,” Glimmer said. She gestured at the holographic table. “Your technology. That’s something the people of Etheria might want. Etheria has been going through a technological revolution unlike anything since the First Ones, and it’s all based on parts salvaged from your robots.”

“I would never have been able to experiment with First Ones technology without salvaged tech from your designs to bridge the gap!” Entrapta supplied.

Glimmer nodded. “And as much as there was horribly wrong about the Fright Zone, the fact remains that the Scorpion Kingdom used to have almost nothing, and you turned it into the industrial powerhouse of Etheria. Granted, all of that production went into weapons designed to kill us all, but imagine if instead that technology was used to make people’s lives better?”

Hordak rubbed his chin. “That is an intriguing idea. I could aid in reconstruction… replace the hovels I burned down with proper structures suitable for living in. They would have powered lighting, refrigerated food storage… perhaps even a networked communications grid. Instead of the meandering dirt footpaths your kind has made do with for ages, I could link the kingdoms with true roads… or a magnetic tram system, if I can find the resources. That way, if some other threat arises, the different kingdoms can reinforce and support one another far more efficiently than you ever did against me…” Having never considered the applications of his technology beyond simply amplifying military might, Hordak’s mind began to spin with the possibilities of this new, more civil branch of engineering.

“Then it’s settled.” Glimmer tapped at the hologram console, making modifications to the peace treaty and reading her words aloud as she typed. “In penance for his crimes... the being known as... Hordak... shall serve a sentence of not less than... ten years of civic service. He will aid reconstruction efforts and infrastructure projects across the kingdoms of Etheria... as assigned by an advisory council whose members shall be named by the participants of the Princess Alliance. Princess Entrapta shall be designated in charge of seeing that this sentence is carried out.”

Hordak peered at the new version of the treaty. “Five years,” he said. “You were going to let me off with nothing.”

Glimmer shook her head. “And you convinced me what a bad idea it was to go easy on you. Seven years with good behavior, and you can apply for a license as an engineering consultant once your time is served. Deal?”

Hordak narrowed his eyes. “…Six years.”

“Hordak, don’t push me.”

“Very well. Seven years.” Hordak placed his palm on the console, adding his insignia to the bottom of the document.

Glimmer added her insignia to the treaty as well. “Then as Queen of Brightmoon and formal leader of the Rebellion, I officially declare the Horde War for Etheria well and truly over!” She let out a small breath. “Finally.”

Entrapta looked up. “I wasn’t paying attention. Did you say I get to be Hordak’s boss?” A wild grin spread across her face.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
